The above account Marco Polo no doubt derived from the Mongols, who endeavored, as far as possible, to gloss over with romantic and improbable incidents a repulse that could not be denied. The Chinese annalists, who have no partiality for their Mongol conquerors, tell a much less flattering story. According to their account, as given by Père Amiot, in his “Mémoires concernant les Chinois,” the fleet consisted of six hundred ships, fitted out in the provinces of Kiang-nan, Fou-kien, Ho-nan, and Chan-tong. The army, sailing from Corea, landed first on the island of Kuchi [?], whence they proceeded to that of Tsushima, where they learned that the Japanese had long been expecting them with a great army. On approaching the coast of Japan, they encountered a furious tempest, which sunk their vessels; so that of the whole army scarcely one or two in every ten persons escaped. In the “Histoire Général de la China,” compiled by Father Malela from Chinese sources, the story is thus told: “The sixth month (1281) Alahan set out on the expedition against Japan; but scarcely had he reached the port of embarkation when he died. Atahai, appointed to succeed him, did not arrive till the fleet had already set sail. In the latitude of the isle of _Pinghou_ [Hirado], it encountered a violent tempest, by which most of the vessels were driven on shore. The officers, selecting those least damaged, themselves returned, leaving behind them in that island more than a hundred thousand men. The soldiers, finding themselves thus abandoned, chose a leader, and set themselves to work to cut down trees to build new vessels, in which to escape. But the Japanese, apprised of their shipwreck, made a descent upon the island with a powerful army, and put them to the sword. They spared only ten or twelve thousand Chinese soldiers, of whom they made slaves; and, of the whole formidable invading army, hardly three persons returned to China.” Father Gaubil, in his “Histoire de la Dynastie des Mongoux,” compiled also from Chinese sources, states the number of Chinese and Corean prisoners at eighty thousand, and of the Mongols who were slain at thirty thousand.